A TEENAGE hoodlum lunged at a man with a wooden bat as he and his partner wheeled their young child along the street in a pushchair.

Daniel Rouse approached the victim in Beaumont Road, Middlesbrough, on March 11 this year and made threats to stab him, which were ignored.

He then disappeared into a nearby home, saying “watch this”, and returned with the bat, approaching the victim from behind and lunging at him with it, but missing as he dodged out of the way.

The man, who knew 18-year-old Rouse, contacted the police who discovered the latter half of the incident had been captured on CCTV.

Rouse, of Dorothy Street, Middlesbrough, who had recently breached two anti social behaviour orders, was arrested and claimed the victim had in fact assaulted him.

The teenager, who already has a number of previous criminal convictions, admitted charges of having an offensive weapon and affray.

Graeme Gaskin, mitigating at Teesside Crown Court, described Rouse as a “angry young man”, who had a number of difficulties including an inability to read properly.

Rouse, who is subject to a night-time curfew, had not properly co-operated with a pre-sentence report on him, the court heard.

Judge Howard Crowson therefore said he needed more help to build up a fuller picture of the defendant. The judge adjourned the case until October 31 so that a new report could be prepared by a different probation officer.